Novak Djokovic receives backing as Serb 'happy' Wimbledon has been punished by ATP

Novak Djokovic has received a large backing by tennis fans after revealing he was 'happy' to see Wimbledon stripped of its ranking points for banning Russian and Belarusian players for this year's Championships. Stars such as world no 2 Daniil Medvedev will not be allowed to compete at Wimbledon this summer after tournament organisers took a hard-line stance in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The ATP and the WTA decided to strip Wimbledon of its ranking points for the upcoming tournament, in addition to the 2021 edition of the tournament. It means that players will not be able to defend the points they won last year.

Djokovic, who triumphed at Wimbledon 2021, conceded that he was 'affected' by the move but added that he was content with the ATP's decision. The world no 1 slammed Wimbledon for making the 'wrong decision'.

In a poll of Express Sport readers, 30 percent of voters have backed Djokovic in insisting that the ATP should strip ranking points from the tournament. However, 61.6 percent of the 10,788 voters believe ranking points should remain, in a big blow to the ATP. Those who were unsure about the decision made up 4.4 percent of the respondents.

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Djokovic said last week: "I'm affected because I'm not able to defend 4,000 points [in Australia and Wimbledon].

"But I'm happy to see that the ATP and the players decided to show Wimbledon that when you make a wrong decision, there are consequences. Wimbledon is still Wimbledon, it was my dream as a kid, I never looked at it for points of prize money, but I understand the group of players affected. It's a lose-lose situation."

Rafael Nadal added: "I don't have a clear opinion.